This assignment was to make a poster showing our school mascot panther setting a good example for using the web. Our piece needed to include a picture of the panther, and text following the template: “This is panther, Panther…{good example of using the internet}… Be like panther.”

I made this fairly quickly. I’m not a huge fan with how it turned out, but it met the requirements and I completed the assignment. If I could do it again, I’d take more time with how I took the photo. I also would’ve photoshopped in a Facebook feed onto the computer screen instead of just having the login page. I also would’ve directed my subject more to lower the panther head, since it looks like the person inside the suit is looking at the screen rather than the panther.

This is the final product of my Mixed Media / Gel transfer assignment.

I made this with lots of layering of printed paper, wall paper, pen, and paint.

The first thing I did was make a collage of sheet music from three songs by the Korean Pop group BTS (First Love, Spring Day, and House of Cards). I choose these songs because they had free sheet music for them that had dynamic and wasn’t the same notes over and over again, and they some have piano in them, which is what the sheet music is for.

After collaging the sheet music I cut out strips of wallpaper and excerpts from the short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin. I choose this short story because you can see the word “Omelas” on a motel in the music video for BTS’s Spring Day. I used black pen to make a small border.

I then did my gel transfers, printing free-use/copyright-free images of butterfly’s and a tree and used the gel to transfer the ink onto the piece. Lastly I used a stencil to add the pink flower in the bottom right corner.

If I could do this again I’d give myself more time, cut out the sheets of paper and wallpaper neatly, and make a better border, maybe with lace-tape or ribbon instead of pen. I also wouldn’t made the stencil cleaner and gotten more of the paper pulp off of the transfers.

This design is inspired by the Netflix Original Series – Voltron: Legendary Defenders. I used a screen-split formation used in the show and put cat versions of each character in their respective spots. The backgrounds represent their main focus, abilities, and personalities.

The first thing I did to make this was trace my sketches of the cat heads into Illustrator. Then, in Photoshop, I separated the screen and drew the backgrounds. After that, I put the Illustrator cat head files into photoshop. I duplicated the layers of the cat heads and took away the saturation to make a white version of the cat heads to put behind to create a white “shadow”/highlight.

Lastly I places my design on the GelaSkins template and cropped the edges in photoshop.

This has probably been my favourite project so far. It’s not perfect or top-quality, but I can see myself improving the more I practice these programs. I like how it turned out and I can’t wait to continue to practice and improve.

Some Elements of Design Used

Colour: I used colour to represent each character presented. I generally used a colour scheme in each section. Top left: Analogous (Reds, Oranges, Yellows), Bottom left: Monochromatic(Blues), Middle: Complementary (Purple and Yellow), Bottom right: Monochromatic (Yellows made browns)

Line: I used literal lines to separate each section from the other, but it also leads the viewers eyes from each section back to the middle.

This sketch is of the background. I have it split up into 5 sections, inspired by a frame from the Netflix Original series: Voltron Legendary Defenders. The top left having fire, bottom left water, middle space, bottom left sunshine, top left earthy.

These sections give a small insight to their respective character’s personality and main ability.

I sketched cat head versions of the shows 5 main characters, which will be placed where the circles are in my sketch of the background.

I had fun making this assignment, although it didn’t turn out the best I learned a lot about the program Adobe Illustrator and about making things with my hands. It’s a lot of work and I definitely need more practice but I’m glad for this experience.

I think the best part of this final product is the point of view. The message I’m trying to send is very prominent, as the title is “Genderless Dress Up”. I was to promote the fact that anyone should be able to wear whatever they want to express themselves however they please no matter their gender, sexual-orientation, race, etc.

The interactive portion of this is that the viewer is able to move around each piece and rearrange the clothing, head, and shoes of each person.

Hybridization is shown here through using different mediums to create a finished product. I made the clothes, heads, and shoes on Adobe Illustrator, which the other aspect where made with paint and cardboard.

If I could do this assignment again, I’d be sure to give myself more time. I’d also make it so the dividers between the movable pieces have some way to connect each piece and to have the head not move. I’d also take more time to design the actual title and edges to make it more visually pleasing.